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How to Get Organized and Manage Your Time

7 practical tips for making 2018 the year you get organized and manage your time better by VERGE Staff | Career | Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Sixty-seven percent of Americans make resolutions for the new year, but only 9.2 percent are successful. Based on Google search data, the top searches for self-improvement in the new year are: 1) to get healthy and 2) to get organized.

"I'm glad to see organizing as a top priority, because taking steps to get organized and manage your time will make other goals like saving money, traveling more and creating an exercise habit easier to achieve," explains Heather Rogers, vice president at Time Timer®, a visual timer that helps children and adults better understand how much time is remaining for their tasks. "Even if you don't think organizing is fun, think of how it can enable the activities you love most."

Invented by a mom in Ohio whose child was always running late for the bus, the Time Timer is a trusted tool for organizational professionals, families, schools and businesses to help people manage time more effectively by visualizing how time elapses.

"Even if you don't think organizing is fun, think of how it can enable the activities you love most." -Heather Rogers, Vice President at Time Timer

If your New Year's resolution for 2018 is to get organized and manage time more effectively, consider these tips from Time Timer:

1.Declutter and put everything in its place. If this seems overwhelming, set a timer for 20 minutes and do a blitz pick up.

2.Make a list of everything you need to do this coming year, month and week, and then prioritize which tasks are most important.

3.Do the boring (to you) tasks first and get them out of the way first instead of spending time dwelling on having to do them.

4.Break up big jobs into manageable chunks of time so they seem less daunting. Some even suggest breaking up your resolutions into chunks to make your goals more attainable.

5.Schedule breaks in your day. Take a walk, grab a cup of coffee, check your social media accounts and then get back to work with a fresh mind.

6.Audit your time weekly and make adjustments. Did you spend too much time on email? Set specific times for email and then turn off your push notifications. Whatever it is that is a time parasite, rearrange the time spent on it.

7.Set firm boundaries so that work doesn't creep into life too much and vice-versa. There are sometimes exceptions, but the 9 p.m. work emails are not usually a crisis, are they? And how much time of your work day are you spending looking at a friend's baby or wedding registry? Allow yourself a few minutes and then get back to work.

"Most people struggle with time management because it's not tangible, but with Time Timer, it is," says Deb Cabral, certified professional organizer and productivity consultant. "The colored disc gives you the opportunity to visually keep track of time. We use it with many clients such as children and teens, adults in the workplace and those that struggle with being able to focus.”

The bottom line is, learning ways to manage time is key to getting and staying organized. Using an effective tool or system that helps you understand and track your time better can help you reach all of your goals efficiently.